January 5, 2025

New Year Examen

"The glory of God is [the human being] fully alive"

~St. Ignatius of Loyola
(Founder of the Jesuits, 16th Century, Spain)

Check in and Get Connected!

Gathering and Fellowship

Words of greeting and welcome

Chris Zepp

WELCOMING STATEMENT

RISE believes that God has open arms, and so should we. Our Creator wants us to love, accept and affirm every human being, including persons of every age, race, ethnic background, nationality, gender identity, sexual orientation, family or socioeconomic status, educational background, religion or creed, and physical or mental ability. We celebrate our diversity and recognize the sacred worth and dignity of all. Everyone is invited and encouraged to join us as we seek to follow Jesus with mutual respect, understanding, and love.

*Read more about “Why Pronouns Matter” HERE.

Announcements

New Year Worship Series

Beginning January 12, we will begin a new worship series — “Blessings for the Journey” — with a return to our worship practice of reflection and conversation.

We would also like to make a renewed effort to offer a viable KidZone option for our little ones and families in the New Year. Please let Chris or Alexis know if you would be willing and able to help out, or if you have ideas for how we can best make this possible!

The Story of Your Life

7-8:30 pm Thursday Nights
January 16 - February 20 (or 27th if necessary)
Location TBD

The very act of story telling, of arranging memory and invention according to the structure of the narrative, is by definition holy….We tell stories because we can’t help it. We tell stories because we love to entertain and hope to edify. We tell stories because they fill the silence death imposes. We tell stories because they save us.

~James Carroll,
”The Communion of Sinners”

How would you like to join together with others to reflect on your personal life journey while writing your “spiritual autobiography”? In these first few months of the New Year, Chris is offering a short course that will lead participants through a process of exploring our most meaningful life experiences, helping us to understand and sort out the factors that help define each of our own spiritual journeys, following the process laid out in Dan Wakefield’s book The Story of Your Life. The course will run for six weeks on Thursday evenings (7-8:30 p.m.) beginning January 16 and concluding on February 20 (or February 27th if weather interrupts the schedule). A small amount of “homework” will be required between some sessions, in addition to the culminating writing of the autobiography. Because of the intense personal nature of this experience and the developmental process that builds from week to week, participants will be asked to make a commitment to confidentiality and to regular attendance for the length of the course, planning to miss no more than 1 session over the duration. If interested, please sign up using the link below no later than Sunday January 12 . If you have any questions or need more information, feel free to reach out to Chris (worship@riseharrisonburg.com)

Register for The Story of Your Life

OPENING SongS

Brent Holl

“Three Kings”

~Robbie O’Connell

Three Kings came riding from the East
Just as the Day was dawning
The newborn King of Kings to see,
All on a Christmas Morning.

A fiery star, it guided them,
Just as the Day was dawning
It brought them unto Bethlehem.
All on a Christmas Morning.

They came onto a stable there,
Just as the Day was dawning
And found a newborn infant there.
All on a Christmas Morning.

And down upon their knees they fell,
Just as the Day was dawning
The child he sweetly smiled on them.
All on a Christmas Morning.

Three gifts they gave him to behold.
Just as the Day was dawning
Of Frankincense and Myrrh and Gold.
All on a Christmas Morning.

“Bread and Fishes”

~Alan Bell

As I went a walkin' one mornin' in spring
I met with some travelers in an old country lane
One was an old man, the second a maid
And the third was a young boy who smiled as he said

We've the wind in the willows, and the birds in the sky
We've a bright sun to warm us, where ever we lie
We have bread and fishes and a jug of red wine
To share on our journey with all of man-kind

I sat down beside them, the flowers all around
And we ate on a mantle spread out on the ground
They told me of prophets and princes and kings
And they spoke of the one god who knows everything

We've the wind in the willows, and the birds in the sky
We've a bright sun to warm us, where ever we lie
We have bread and fishes and a jug of red wine
To share on our journey with all of man-kind

I asked them to tell me their name and their race
So I might remember their kindness and grace
"My name is Joseph, this is Mary my wife
And this is our young son, our pride and delight”
We travel the whole world, by land and by sea
To tell all the people how they might be free

Like the wind in the willows, and the birds in the sky
We've a bright sun to warm us, where ever we lie
We have bread and fishes and a jug of red wine
To share on our journey with all of man-kind

Sadly, I left them, in an old country lane
For I knew that I never would see them again
One was an old man, the second a maid
And the third was a young boy who smiled as he said:

We've the wind in the willows, and the birds in the sky
We've a bright sun to warm us, where ever we lie
We have bread and fishes and a jug of red wine
To share on our journey with all of man-kind

WESLEYAN COVENANT PRAYER

The following prayer, a contemporary version of John Wesley’s Covenant Prayer (adapted for the plural), describes the life of a participant with Christ in his mission. The Covenant prayer helps us remember what this Jesus-way of life looks like and what loving God with all our heart, soul, and mind and loving our neighbor as ourself requires of us. It describes missional life devoted to following Jesus and serving as Christ's representative in the world he loves and is working to redeem. Wesley encouraged the churches he helped found to pray this prayer each year at New Years as a rededication to the Way of Jesus.

A Covenant Prayer in the Wesleyan Tradition

We are no longer our own, but yours. Put us to what you will, place us with whom you will. Put us to doing, put us to suffering. Let us be put to work for you or set aside for you, Praised for you or criticized for you. Let us be full, let us be empty. Let us have all things, let us have nothing. We freely and fully surrender all things to your glory and service. And now, O wonderful and holy God, Creator, Redeemer, and Sustainer, you are ours, and we are yours. So be it. And the covenant which we have made on earth, Let it also be made in heaven. Amen.

NEW YEAR EXAMEN

(Adapted from the 16th century tradition of St. Ignatius)

This practice comes from the Spiritual Exercises of Ignatius of Loyola (16th Century, Spain, founder of the Jesuits) - a month-long set of meditations, prayers, and mental exercises which formed the central component of training for Jesuits. St. Ignatius emerged as a leader in the “counter-reformation” of the Catholic church. One of his best known quotes is “The glory of God is [the human being] fully alive.” At its most basic, Examen is a practice of “Spiritual self-review.” Ignatius considered it the most important way to continue to live out the experience of the exercises. In this New Year Examen, we adapt this spiritual review process Ignatius outlined to reflect on our lives as we move into a new year together.

A detail of the full adapted process can be found HERE

Centering

Candle Lighting
Scripture - Psalm 139:1-10, 23-24 (NRSV)

1 O Lord, you have searched me and known me.
2 You know when I sit down and when I rise up;
    you discern my thoughts from far away.
3 You search out my path and my lying down
    and are acquainted with all my ways.
4 Even before a word is on my tongue,
    O Lord, you know it completely.
5 You hem me in, behind and before,
    and lay your hand upon me.
6 Such knowledge is too wonderful for me;
    it is so high that I cannot attain it.
7 Where can I go from your spirit?
    Or where can I flee from your presence?
8 If I ascend to heaven, you are there;
    if I make my bed in Sheol, you are there.
9 If I take the wings of the morning
    and settle at the farthest limits of the sea,
10 even there your hand shall lead me,
    and your right hand shall hold me fast.
23 Search me, O God, and know my heart;
    test me and know my thoughts.
24 See if there is any wicked way in me,
    and lead me in the way everlasting.

Examen (Life-giving)

Silent Reflection
Sharing

Examen (Life-draining)

Silent Reflection
Sharing

Examen (Life-promising)

Silent Reflection
Sharing

Closing

Scripture - Isaiah 43:18-19 (NIV)

18 “Forget the former things;
    do not dwell on the past.
19 See, I am doing a new thing!
    Now it springs up; do you not perceive it?
I am making a way in the wilderness
    and streams in the wasteland.

Prayer

CLOSING SONG

“Lord of the Dance ”

~Hymn - Sydney Carter / Tune - Simple Gifts

I danced in the morning when the world was begun,
And I danced in the moon and the stars and the sun,
And I came down from heaven and I danced on the earth,
At Bethlehem I had my birth.